• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Covid after effects

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
B

Billy Bob

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Had a scheduled phone call from my diabetic nurse today as I've been getting my BS down since having Covid the good news is I have got them down from high 20's to below 10 but I'm not getting any lower than 7 but she informed me that a lot of diabetics have not just suffered with respiratory problems but have become insulin intolerant ?
She then said I may have to start taking insulin how does that work ?
I am currently taking 1000mg of Sukato and 160mg of Gliclazide in the morning and 500mg Sukato , 80mg Gliclazide in the evening
On fairly low carb diet , My waking BS is averaging between 9 and 10 pre evening meal average is 7 to 9 . Two hours afterwards there is no big rise or no rise at all.
Has any one else any experience in this after Covid ?
Thanks in advance Nigel
 
Hi there @Billy Bob. Sorry to hear you had Covid but glad to hear you’re on the mend. I’m not a T2 on insulin, so I can’t comment, but I’m sure someone’ll be along soon with advice.🙂
 
Well insulin intolerant, only means your body is intolerant to the insulin your own body makes in its pancreas, this does not mean that you will be intolerant to the man made insulins we virtually all use (those of us who use insulin I mean) these days.

However, I have no info on whether what she told you is correct - but there again, I haven't any experience of helping post Covid diabetics - so presumably this is what the NHS has discovered in the last 12 months.

What treatment are you currently taking for your T2?
 
trophywench said:
Well insulin intolerant, only means your body is intolerant to the insulin your own body makes in its pancreas, this does not mean that you will be intolerant to the man made insulins we virtually all use (those of us who use insulin I mean) these days.

However, I have no info on whether what she told you is correct - but there again, I haven't any experience of helping post Covid diabetics - so presumably this is what the NHS has discovered in the last 12 months.

What treatment are you currently taking for your T2?
Click to expand...
Sukato and Gliclazide
 
Sukkarto = metformin.

Are you on a max dose of Gliclazide - think that's 320mg a day. The Glic is what encourages your pancreas to produce and excrete more insulin
 
I am Type2 and been on insulin since first diagnosed. I had my Covid vaccination last week, up to now ( touch wood ) I have had no side effect or reaction. As I understand it as Trophywench said if you stop producing insulin yourself then you become insulin resistance and need insulin via injection. My sugars or insulin have not increased since the vaccination.

John.
 
Well you can't help what your body is doing, can you? Using insulin isn't by any means s death sentence - and if your own pancreas needs help from it - which indeed it can and might do - why not help it? Injecting insulin - instead of relying on the Glic to encourage your pancreas to produce more insulin constantly - might be enough to give it a rest and then go back into production again when it's had a catnap. All forms of insulin used to treat diabetes of any type are 'synthetic' these days- even when 40+ years ago we all used insulin derived from pigs and cattle, they all needed purifying and also had ingredients added to them to make them suitable for Human use anyway.

There are no guarantees in life at all - so enjoy your voyage of discovery!
 
The biggest problem I have with insulin is my hgv licence and what restrictions may be put on it if I have to use insulin.
My nurse has now suggested I try Ozempic once a week and cut one of the Gliclazide tablets
 
Billy Bob said:
The biggest problem I have with insulin is my hgv licence and what restrictions may be put on it if I have to use insulin.
My nurse has now suggested I try Ozempic once a week and cut one of the Gliclazide tablets
Click to expand...

Billy Bob - Did your nurse say exactly why she thought insulin might be coming your way?

If it is looking like you're moving along towards insulin usage, then it could be good to ask for a full blood panel, just to check you haven't got anything like a really low-grade infection going on that is impacting your bloods.

I think what your nurse may mean, when she describes you is that you may have become insulin resistant - meaning, it's likely you are still making (enough) insulin, but your body had lost it's was in terms of using it efficiently.

Secondly, in your shoes, I'd get doubled down on the dietary aspects, and start a food diary to record everything I ate or drank, and do plenty blood tests alongside that, to see if there's anything in your diet or lifestyle you could tweak a bit more, for marginal gains.

Thirdly, if you have reduced from 20s to below 10, I'd be a bit surprised if insulin was close to your horizon, but obviously I don't know anything about you or your wider situation.

Some time ago now, I went to a presentation given at our local Diabetes UK group, where a consultant stated that there are over 400 drug combinations to treat Type 2 Diabetes - excluding insulin. That's not individual drugs, but combinations, so it seems likely there might be other options to try first.

Finally, if I was carrying any extra COVID kilos, I'd be trying to trim those back, and carrying additional fat - particularly around the mid-section can have a significant impact on insulin resistance.

When are you next due an HbA1c test? For me, if it was, say 3 months, I might ask for that extra time to see where my bloods had gone after my doubled down efforts.
 
ukjohn said:
if you stop producing insulin yourself then you become insulin resistance and need insulin via injection
Click to expand...
Not producing insulin is not the same as insulin resistance.
People with Type 1 diabetes produce no insulin but are rarely insulin resistant; some are very sensitive to insulin.
That said, having Type 1 diabetes does not stop you becoming insulin resistant.
Nor is not producing insulin the only reason for injecting it - you body may not be able to produce enough due to insulin resistance.
 
Well it usually IS a virus that causes our immune system Tcells to accidentally mis-recognise cells in our pancreas (Beta cells in the islets of Langerhans) for virus cells, and kill the good guys off along with the baddies.

Bearing in mind with CV19 our immune system has to really ramp up its game and fight the virus very hard and very long in order to overcome it - it hardly comes as any surprise to me that some folk will become T1.
 
AndBreathe said:
Billy Bob - Did your nurse say exactly why she thought insulin might be coming your way?

If it is looking like you're moving along towards insulin usage, then it could be good to ask for a full blood panel, just to check you haven't got anything like a really low-grade infection going on that is impacting your bloods.

I think what your nurse may mean, when she describes you is that you may have become insulin resistant - meaning, it's likely you are still making (enough) insulin, but your body had lost it's was in terms of using it efficiently.

Secondly, in your shoes, I'd get doubled down on the dietary aspects, and start a food diary to record everything I ate or drank, and do plenty blood tests alongside that, to see if there's anything in your diet or lifestyle you could tweak a bit more, for marginal gains.

Thirdly, if you have reduced from 20s to below 10, I'd be a bit surprised if insulin was close to your horizon, but obviously I don't know anything about you or your wider situation.

Some time ago now, I went to a presentation given at our local Diabetes UK group, where a consultant stated that there are over 400 drug combinations to treat Type 2 Diabetes - excluding insulin. That's not individual drugs, but combinations, so it seems likely there might be other options to try first.

Finally, if I was carrying any extra COVID kilos, I'd be trying to trim those back, and carrying additional fat - particularly around the mid-section can have a significant impact on insulin resistance.

When are you next due an HbA1c test? For me, if it was, say 3 months, I might ask for that extra time to see where my bloods had gone after my doubled down efforts.
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking the time to reply I am going to look at tweaking my diet again , My weight isn't a problem as I lost close on a stone after not eating for 10 days .
Your probably right about maybe still carrying an infection as my breathing is still not 100% but everyday I am getting stronger . My Nurse is going to call me again in 4 weeks so hopefully I will have seen an improvement in my BS and my general health
 
trophywench said:
Well it usually IS a virus that causes our immune system Tcells to accidentally mis-recognise cells in our pancreas (Beta cells in the islets of Langerhans) for virus cells, and kill the good guys off along with the baddies.

Bearing in mind with CV19 our immune system has to really ramp up its game and fight the virus very hard and very long in order to overcome it - it hardly comes as any surprise to me that some folk will become T1.
Click to expand...
Hi trophywench thank you for replying
What you have said makes a lot of sense I think my body has logged onto confused dot com and hopefully will settle down back to what was my normal ?
Covid being a new virus and we are learning more about it everyday good and bad
 
I confess openly that I had at least some reservations about having the vaccine and encouraging my immune system to pedal harder, and perhaps?? kill off some other bit of my body as it's already killed the Beta cells - but OTOH of course had to weigh that up against the risks of catching/dying from CV19.

I've had a few jabs against this and that, by virtue of wanting to visit a couple of 'hot & exotic' places on holidays in the past & not suffered any ill effects AFAIK, so what the hell - nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 
Well the Gliclazide seems to be having a positive effect I was 6.7 yesterday before dinner and 6.4 2 hours after tonight I was 6.0 before so I'll see what I am later
So I was 8.1 not great but not the end of the world
 
Last edited:
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top